Device for fixing labels to a supporting body

ABSTRACT

A device for fixing labels to a supporting body, such as for example a fabric, by means of connecting elements consisting of a button and an anchoring body connected by a thin filament. The device comprises a hollow needle with a longitudinal slot, a piston which thrusts said anchoring body forward along said slot of said needle, a kinematic mechanism which feeds said connecting elements, assembled to form a unit, in continuous succession in such a manner that the anchoring body of each element is each time brought into alignment with said needle, and means for cutting each connecting element from said unit when the anchoring body of the element considered is thrust along the slot of said needle. The kinematic mechanism which feeds the connecting elements in continuous succession is wholly contained in a piece house in a freely removable manner in the body of the device, and is not constrained with the other members of this latter.

ilite States Patent Lozio [54] DEVICE FOR FIXING LABELS TO A SUPPORTINGBODY [72] inventor: Battista Lozio, Via Stefini 6, Milan, Italy [22]Filed: May 5, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 34,831

Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. AttorneyStevens, Davis, Miller& Mosher [57] ABSTRACT A device for fixing labels to a supporting body,such as for example a fabric, by means ofconnecting elements consistingof a button and an anchoring body connected by a thin filament. Thedevice comprises a hollow needle with a longitudinal slot, a pistonwhich thrusts said anchoring body forward along said slot of saidneedle, a kinematic mechanism which feeds said connecting elements,assembled to form a unit, in co tinuous succession in such a manner thatthe anchoring bod of each element is each time brought into alignmentwith said needle, and means for cutting each connecting element fromsaid unit when the anchoring body of the element considered is thrustalong the slot of said needle.

The kinematic mechanism which feeds the connecting elements incontinuous succession is wholly contained in a piece house in a freelyremovable manner in the body of the device, and is not constrained withthe other members of this latter.

4 Claims, 18 Drawing Figures P'A'TENTEMm I972 sum i 0F 7 DEVICE FORFIXING LABELS TO A SUPPORTING BODY The present invention relates to animproved device for fixing labels to a supporting body, such as forexample a fabric, of the type described and illustrated in the US. Pat.No. 3,103,666.

' Said labels are fixed to the support by means of a connecting elementconsisting of an anchoring body, a thickened bod of button, and afilament joining said bodies.

Preferably the anchoring body, button and filament are formed as asingle piece of pressed plastics material.

A plurality of said connecting elements are assembled in such a manneras to form a unit which when loaded-into the device in question feeds itin a continuous manner.

Briefly, the device according the [1.8. Pat. No. 3,103,666 consists of ahollow needle comprising a longitudinal lateral slot and a piston whichthrusts the anchoring body of a connecting element forward along theneedle.

The device further comprises a kinematic mechanism which feeds incontinuous succession connecting elements assembled to form a unit insuch a manner that the anchoring body of each element is brought eachtime into alignment with said needle, and comprises means for cuttingeach connecting element from said unit when the anchoring body of theelement considered is brought into alignment with the needle.

Such a device has the disadvantage that the operation of said pistonwhich thrusts the anchoring body of the connecting element forward alongthe needle, the operation of said kinematic feeding mechanism and saidcutting means are interconnected, because of which if any of said partsis broken it is necessary to disassemble the whole device in order tocarry out repair, with considerable loss of time.

The object of the invention is that of obviating this disad- I vantageand for this purpose a device is provided of the above stated type inwhich said kinematic mechanism which feeds in continuous succession theassembled connecting elements is wholly contained in a piece housed in afreely removable manner in the body of the device and is not constrainedin any way with the other members of this latter, because of which inthe case of a fault said piece is easily removable and replaceable.

These and other characteristics, objects and advantages of the presentinvention will be more evident from the following description made byway of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a plan view of a single connecting element used in the deviceaccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevation of a unit consisting of a plurality of connectingelements;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the unit shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a lateral elevation of thedevice according to the invention inthe rest position; 7

FIG. 5 is a lateral elevation similar to that of FIG. 4 with sectionedparts showing the device in the rest position with its side removed;

FIG. 6 is a lateral elevation similar to that of FIG. 5 showing thedevice in the working position;

FIG. 7 is a section through the line VII-VII of FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a front elevation of the device showing also the unit of FIG.2 in the loaded position in the device;

FIG. 9 is a plan view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 10 is a sectional view through the line X-X of FIG. 4 showing aconnecting element of the unit of FIG. 2 in position ready to beseparated from the unit and expelled through the needle of the device;

FIG. 11 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 is the same detail of FIG. 10 illustrating the separation bymeans of cutting the connecting element from said unit and its expulsionthrough the needle of the device;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged detail of the kinematic feeding mechanism for theconnecting elements in the device;

FIG. 14 is a section through the line XIV-XIV of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a section through the line XV-XV of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 shows the detail indicated by the arrow 106 in FIG. 5 in theposition in which operation of the device is prevented;

FIG. 17 is a detail of the needle of the device inserted in a body, forexample a fabric, on which a label is to be fixed;

FIG. 18 is a detail of a label fixed to said body by means of the devicein question.

With reference to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a connecting elementconsisting of an anchoring body 11 and a button 13 connected together bymeans of a filament 15 so as to form a single body.

Said connecting element is preferably made of flexible plasticsmaterial, for example nylon, and the filament I5 is the thinnestpossible compatible with the strength of the material used. 7

FIGS. 2 and 3 show a unit consisting of a plurality of elements equal tothose shown in FIG. 1, said unit being such as to feed in a continuousmanner the automatic device in question for fixing labels.

The unit comprises a plurality of connecting elements 30 connected to asupporting rod 35 by a collar 36 which preferably comprises a thinsection 37 immediately adjacent to the anchoring body 11, so that eachconnecting element can be easily removed from said rod 35.

FIGS. 4-17 illustrate a preferred embodiment of a device according tothe invention for fixing labels to a supporting body, such as a fabric,using the connecting elements illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

With particular reference to FIGS. 4-11, said device, genericallyindicated by the reference numeral 40, comprises structurally a casing41, preferably of plastics material, made in two parts 42 and 43suitably assembled (FIG. 7).

Between said parts 42, 43 comprising the casing 41, a box lever 45 ispivoted at 44 the rotation of which in the direction of arrow F insidethe casing is opposed by the action of a return spring 46 fixed at oneextremity 46' to the lever 45 and at its other extremity 46" to thecasing 41.

Guide slots 47, 48 are formed on the lateral walls of said box lever 45in symmetrical positions, in which slide pivots 49, 50 respectively ofan angular connecting element 51 housed inside the lever 45, saidelement 51 being further pivoted by means of a pivot 52 to a link 53.

At the free extremity of said link 53 is pivoted a piece 55, by

means of a pivot 54, from which a stem 56 projects. Said piece 55 slidesin lateral guides 57 formed in the internal opposite surfaces of saidparts 42, 43, comprising the casing 41 of the device. The front part ofthe casing 41 is separated from the rest of the casing by a transversewall 58, which forms with the front wall 59 a compartment in which ametallic box-like piece, generically indicated by the reference numeral60, is housed in a freely removable manner, and contains a kinematicmechanism for feeding the connecting elements 30 in the device.

With particular reference to FIGS. 12, 13 and 14, said kinematicmechanism comprises a straight tooth gear 61 and a saw tooth gear 62rigid with a pivot 63 and distanced one from the other by a distancepiece 64 (FIG. 13).

With said saw tooth gear 62 the nose 65 of an operating lever 66cooperates, constrained perpendicularly in a slightly oscillating mannerby a vertical rod 67 in the following way.

With particular reference to FIGS. 11. and 15, a portion 68 of said rod67 is bent perpendicular to it, and to which said lever 66 isconstrained by means of a pivot 69, and passes through the opening 70formed in the rod 67 after having bent the portion 68. As is clearlyseen in FIG. 13, the lever 66 rests on the lower edge 71 of said opening70.

Further, the lever 66 is connected to the rod 67 by means of a returnspring 72.

The rod 67 slides vertically from top to bottom and vice versa'ingrooves 73 formed in the piece 60, this sliding being controlled in thefollowing manner.

The lower terminal part of the rod 67 extends into a space 74 of thepiece 60 and is provided with a piston 75 which is partly housed in thespace 74 and partly projecting from it through an opening 76.

The piston 75 and consequently the rod 67 is thrust so that it slides inthe direction of the arrow F by a return spring 77 acting between ashoulder 78 rigid with the piston 75 and the upper part 79 ofthe chamber74.

A corresponding tooth 81 of a two arm lever generically indicated by thereference numeral 82 is also engaged with the saw tooth gear 62.

Lever 82 pivots on pivot 83 which extends through an opening at theextremity of arm 104 and is mounted on piece 60, while the other arm 105projects downwardly from arm 104 and extends outwardly of piece 60through opening 85 in the lower wall of chamber 84. A return spring 90is inserted on the arm 105 of the lever 82 and acts between the lowerpart of the chamber 84 and the arm 104 so as to counter the rotation ofthe lever 82 in the direction of the arrow F in the position indicatedby broken lines in FIG. 13 as will be explained hereinafter.

FIG. shows that said piston 75 and said arm 105 of the lever 82cooperate with a piece generically indicated by the reference numeral106 supported at the front extremity of the lever 45 so that it slidesforwards and backwards from the position shown in FIG. 5 to the positionshown in FIG. 16 and vice versa.

Said piece 106 comprises an upper plate 107 having a longitudinalopening 108 and two front and back terminal portions 109 and 110respectively.

A pivot 111 is rigid with said plate 107 and housed in a slidable manner(from the position shown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 16) ina seat 112 formed in the front part of the lever 45. A return spring 113counters said sliding. A knob 114 rigid with said pivot 111 is providedfor manually controlling the sliding of piece 106.

The box-like piece 60 with the previously described kinematic mechanismcontained in it is closed by a cover 92 on which a plate 103 is fixedcomprising a passage 93 for the stem 56 (FIGS. 14 and In addition thefront part of said plate 103 is provided with a cutter 102 (FIGS. 5, 11and 12) for the purpose explained hereinafter.

FIG. 11 shows a needle which comprises a longitudinal slot 115 along oneof its sides, said needle 20 being removably fixed to the front part ofthe device in the following manner.

With reference to FIGS. 5 and 8, the needle 20 is inserted in alongitudinal hole 94 formed in the front part of the casing 41 co-axialwith the stem 56. Said hole 94 comprises a lateral slot 100.

The back part of the needle 20 comprises a thickened part 95 with agroove 96 with its transversal section in the form of a circumferencearc.

A pivot 97 acts in said groove 96, inserted in a hole 98 in the casing41 perpendicular to and intersecting the hole 94.

Said pivot 97 comprises a groove 97' corresponding to the groove 96 ofthe needle 20 and is rotable between two positions: a first position inwhich the groove 97 is situated inside the groove 96 so as to preventextraction of the needle 20, and a second position, at 90 to the first,in which the groove 97' is inside the groove 96 so as to permit theextraction of the needle so as to replace it when necessary.

A tongue 99 rigid with the extremity of the pivot 97 projects from thecasing 41 for easily controlling the rotation of the pivot.

Between the back extremity of the needle 20 and the front extremity ofthe stem 56, and perpendicular to them, a passage 101 (FIG. 9) extendsupwards through the casing 41 of the device, communicating with theoutside, and of section equal to the terminal right hand part of theunit illustrated in FIG. 3, the unit being loaded into the devicethrough said passage 101.

The operation of the device of the foregoing description is as follows.

A unit consisting of a plurality of connecting elements 30 (FIG. 2) isinserted into the device through the passage 101 with the collar 37 ofthe connecting elements between the teeth of the gear 61 (FIG. 13) andwith the anchoring body 11 of the first connecting element co-axial withthe stem 56 and the needle 20.

With particular reference to FIGS. 17 and 18, after having inserted theneedle 20 through the hole 22 of the label 24, the needle is insertedinto the body where said label is to be fixed, for example a fabric 26.

At this point the lever 45 is operated manually, rotating it in thedirection of the arrow F so as to bring it from the position shown inFIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 6, in this manner causing arotation in the direction of the arrow F, of the element 51 and aconsequent forward sliding in the direction of the arrow F, of the stem56, which thrusts the anchoring body 11 of the connecting element alongthe slot 105 of the needle 20. With reference to FIGS. 11 and 12, it isseen that during this movement of the anchoring body 11 of theconnecting element, this latter is separated from the unit by the cutter102 which cuts the thin section 37 of the collar 36 which connects theconnecting elements to the support rod 35 so as to form said unit.

When the anchoring body 11 is completely expelled from the needle 20 (inthe position indicated with broken lines in FIG. 12) the needle can bewithdrawn from the fabric 26 leaving the anchoring body 11 on that sideof the fabric opposite the label 24 (FIG. 18).

In this manner the label 24 is fixed to the fabric 26.

Simultaneously with this, the rotation of the lever 45 from the positionshown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 6 frees the piston 75 fromthe action of the portion of the plate 107, said piston thrust by thespring 77 being brought into the broken line position in FIG. 13,pulling the rod 67 rigid with it and the lever 66 downwards, this latteralso being brought into the dotted line position of the drawing.

The lever 66 must pass over a tooth of the gear 62 in order to bringitself into said broken line position, and this takes place in thefollowing manner.

During the downward sliding of the rod 67 the nose 65 of the lever 66,striking against said tooth of the gear 62, causes the lever 67 torotate in the clockwise direction, against the action of the spring 72,thus liberating the nose 65 from its engagement with the tooth of thegear and permitting the lever 66 to be brought into said broken lineposition. As soon as the nose 65 has passed over the tooth of the gear,the action of the spring 72, previously loaded by the rotation of thelever 66, returns this latter into the position perpendicular to the rod67.

When the lever 45 is released, the action of the spring 46 returns itinto the position shown in FIG. 5, and as said spring 46 is strongerthan spring 77 which thrusts the piston 75 in the direction of the arrowF,, the portion 110 of the plate 107 thrusts the piston 75 and the rod67 so that they slide upwards in such a manner that the nose 65 of thelever 66 engages with the gear 62 and makes this latter rotate by onetooth in the anti-clockwise direction and consequently makes the gear 61rotate, which as it is coupled to the collar 36 of the connectingelements 30, makes the unit advance by one step so bringing theanchoring element 11 of a new connecting element in line with the stem56 and the needle 20.

In this manner the device is automatically set for a new working cycle.

In case of jamming, the connecting elements are freed from the device inthe following manner.

By acting on the knob 114 the piece 106 is brought from the positionshown in FIG. 5 to the position shown in FIG. 16. In this manner thepiston 75, no longer being supported by the portion 110 of the plate107, slides downwards thrust by the spring 77 so freeing the saw toothgear from its engagement with the nose 65 of the lever 66 in thepreviously described manner, and the front portion 109 of the plate 107frees the saw tooth gear from its engagement with the tooth 81 bypulling the arm 105 of the lever 82 into the position indicated bybroken lines in FIG. 12. In this manner the saw tooth gear is free torotate so permitting extraction of the unit from the device.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a device for fixing labels to fabrics and the like by means ofconnecting elements consisting of a button and an anchoring bodyconnected by a thin filament, comprising a casing, a hollow needlecontaining a longitudinal slot extending outwardly of said casing, apiston within said casing which thrusts said anchoring body forwardalong said slot of the needle, a kinematic mechanism which feeds incontinuous succession said connecting elements assembled to form a unitin such a manner that the anchoring body of each element is each timebrought into alignment with said needle, and means for cutting eachconnecting element from said unit when the anchoring body of the elementconsidered is thrust along the slot of said needle, the improvement inwhich the casing is provided with a transverse wall forming acompartment and said kinematic mechanism which feeds the connectingelements in continuous succession is wholly contained in a boxlike piecehoused in a freely removable manner in said compartment without fixedconnection to the other members of the device, whereby in the case of afault said piece is easily removable from the said device andreplaceable therein.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said means for cutting eachconnecting element comprise a cutting tongue forming part of saidbox-like piece.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which said kinematic mechanismwhich feeds the connecting elements in continuous succession is operatedby a spring housed in said box-like piece which is loaded by the releaseof an operating lever of said piston.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3, in which the connecting elements arefed by a toothed gear element operatively connected to said spring.

1. In a device for fixing labels to fabrics and the like by means ofconnecting elements consisting of a button and an anchoring bodyconnected by a thin filament, comprising a casing, a hollow needlecontaining a longitudinal slot extending outwardly of said casing, apiston within said casing which thrusts said anchoring body forwardalong said slot of the needle, a kinematic mechanism which feeds incontinuous succession said connecting elements assembled to form a unitin such a manner that the anchoring body of each element is each timebrought into alignment with said needle, and means for cutting eachconnecting element from said unit when the anchoring body of the elementconsidered is thrust along the slot of said needle, the improvement inwhich the casing is provided with a transverse wall forming acompartment and said kinematic mechanism which feeds the connectingelements in continuous succession is wholly contained in a box-likepiece housed in a freely removable manner in said compartment withoutfixed connection to the other members of the device, whereby in the caseof a fault said piece is easily removable from the said device andreplaceable therein.
 2. A device as claimed in claim 1, in which saidmeans for cutting each connecting element comprise a cutting tongueforming part of said box-like piece.
 3. A device as claimed in claim 1,in which said kinematic mechanism which feeds the connecting elements incontinuous succession is operated by a spring housed in said box-likepiece which is loaded by the release of an operating lever of saidpiston.
 4. A device as claimed in claim 3, in which the connectingelements are fed by a toothed gear element operatively connected to saidspring.